New York Giants RB Devin Singletary Ranked as NFL’s Worst RB1

The New York Giants’ revamped running backs room offers an intriguing collection of talent spearheaded by projected starter Devin Singletary and backups Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy, Jr.

While that unit has shown some promise this summer, former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, in a column for NFL.com ranking every team’s starting running back, isn’t convinced. 

Jones-Drew put Singletary 32nd among the 32 starting running backs, arguing that the Giants will have a clear drop from last year’s starter Saquon Barkley who joined the Eagles via free agency and was ranked fifth on Jones-Drew’s list.

“The Giants were poised to take a step back in the run game the second Saquon Barkley left for the rival Eagles,” Jones-Drew said. “Singletary was fine in Houston last season, posting career highs in carries and yards, but he won’t demand attention from opposing defenses.”

Having played the position at the NFL level, Jones-Drew’s opinion shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, in this case, he’s being a bit harsh on Singletary, nicknamed “Motor,” and what he potentially brings to the Giatns’ ground game.  

Singletary has never had a 1,000-yard season or been a Pro Bowler, as Barkley has. But he has been the rushing yardage leader on every NFL team he’s played for so far, and he’s been far more durable than Barkley, who, save for two seasons, has missed chunks of time during his six-year tenure in the league.

But a closer look shows that Barkley has 75 career broken tackles (in 1,201 regular-season rushing attempts) and a 42.5 percent success rate (an average defined as picking up at least 40 percent of the required yards on first down, 60 percent on second down, and 100 percent on third down.)

Singletary’s numbers in those categories aren’t that far off. He’s posted a 48.8 career success rate and 61 broken tackles (in 888 rushing attempts).

In the receiving game, Barkley has a 72.7 percent catch rate with 12 touchdown catches but only a 38.1 percent success rate in getting the minimum yardage, as described earlier in this analysis. He has 32 career broken tackles as a receiver, 26 dropped passes, and has been on the other end of five balls that have gone for interceptions.

Singletary has a 75.8 percent catch rate despite having only four touchdowns and a 45.9 percent yardage success rate. He also has 15 broken tackles as a receiver and has been on the end of just 20 career drops and one interception in his career.

These numbers, plus Singletary’s relatively clean injury history, certainly support the idea that the Giants landed solid value with their signing of Singletary over Barkley. 

This isn’t to say that Singletary should be ranked ahead of Barkley, but to put him so low just seems like a travesty. Panthers rookie running back Jonathon Brooks, who tore his ACL last November, will not be ready until at least the third week of the season, yet he was listed two spots ahead of Singletary, playing on a team whose offensive line was probably just as much of a question mark as Singletary’s.

Jones-Drew ranked former San Diego Chargers running back Austin Ekeler four spots above Singletary, despite now playing in Washington behind an offensive line with as many questions as the Giants’. Ekeler might catch a lot of checkdowns from Jayden Daniels, but that will not make him much better than Singletary.

Another head-scratcher is Rhamondre Stevenson of the New England Patriots, who is ranked 22nd. Stevenson will probably get more carries than he has in the past due to the unsettled quarterback position. Jacoby Brissett is clearly not going to strike fear in opponents, so they might need to get a bigger dose of Stevenson, who just signed a four-year $36 million extension in June.

For the record, Jones-Drew has Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers as the NFL’s top running back. He is followed by Derrick Henry of the Baltimore Ravens. But to put Singletary dead last? That ranking is clearly up for debate.